


Paper Rings

by orphan_account



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hosie, No Hope/Penelope bc they're being raised as sisters and I just can't do that lol, but I'm still trying to flesh this out lol, definitely others, idk what other pairings their might be, maybe some Lizzie/Penelope i can't remember the ship name, maybe some hizzie, maybe whatever the heck ships I want because idk what I'm doing rn, posie - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22725070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: AU fic. After the Mikaelson's each take part the hollow, they worry that having themselves spread out across the world will put Hope in danger of their numerous enemies. Reluctantly, Hayley agrees to send Hope live with the Park family, who's own daughter is heavily guarded and protected from the outside world. Hope and Penelope grow up together, becoming something like sisters.After the death of Hope's parents when she's 15, both girls decide they need to escape their sheltered lifestyle, arguing that even with all the protections in place, danger still finds them. Why keep hiding? They are finally allowed to attend The Salvatore School. And of course...their tour guide that first day is Josie Saltzman. The competition is on, as both girls fall for her in an instant. Who will be the winner?
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Penelope Park/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 11
Kudos: 111





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first part is a lil bit rushed, but the next couple of chapters will focus on Hope's life with the Park family and their history with the Mikaelsons.

Hope didn't quite understand sacrifice at 7 years old, but she already didn't like it. Her father, aunt, and uncles were now forced to spread out across the globe...never to see each other again. Never to see her again. It had been a few weeks since that had occurred, and she still felt like pieces of her were missing. She missed her family.

“It's all my fault.” she whispered, holding her mother.

“Of course not.” Hayley soothed, “They did this because they wanted to. They love you so much. Your only job now is to live the life they wanted for you.”

She wasn't so sure, but she nodded. She eventually went to her room, and heard her mother on the phone. Her mother sounded worried, and scared. If Hayley Marshall was scared, then something must be wrong.

Now, by this point, she knew what she was. She knew she had abilities other children did not. With vampire blood coursing through her veins, she was able to focus in on the conversation. She tiptoed from her room and to the edge of the stairs, to get a better listen.

“I really think it's necessary.” Hayley said to someone on the phone. “I wouldn't ask if I didn't.”

Hope strained but she couldn't hear the person on the other line. And getting close was too risky.

“The Original family is scattered across the map right now and...their daughter is here.” she paused, listening to the other person talk, “Yes, I know, Freya would do anything to keep her safe. But any day now...anyone could decide to attack. And who knows how many there will be? Klaus will always have enemies looking for vengeance.”

Hope didn't like the sound of this, not at all.

“Thank you. We look forward to meeting you tomorrow.”

Hayley ended the call, and Hope waited a moment before loudly coming down the stairs. Hayley looked a bit startled. “Oh! Honey, are you hungry?”

“No, I...” Hope trailed off. “Mom, are we in danger?”

“I'm doing everything I possibly can to keep you safe. Don't worry about that, okay?” So that was a yes. She knew when grown ups weren't telling the truth. But she let it slide. She couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow, and whoever her mother had been talking to. Who was coming? And why? It _had_ to be about her, and that made her uneasy.

–

The next day, right after breakfast there was a sharp knock at the door. Hope had watched her mother run around, tidying up all morning so far. She'd watched her pace back and forth yet deny anything was wrong.

Hayley jumped, “Oh, I bet that's them.”

She opened the door, revealing two extremely well-dressed men, and behind them a girl about her age stared at Hope curiously.

“Josiah and Maxwell Park,” Hayley said anxiously. “Come in, come in. And this must be...Penelope, right?”

The other girl nodded, smiling.

One of the men stepped forward, and crouched down in front of Hope. “You must be Miss Hope Mikaelson. We've heard quite a lot about you. Our coven has always held your family in high regard. My name is Josiah, this is my husband, Max, and that's our daughter, Penelope. I think the two of you are about the same age.” He did have a kind smile. But Hope was a little stuck on the bit about his coven holding her family “in high regard.” That either meant they respected them, or feared them. Maybe both.

“Penelope, why don't you and Hope go upstairs and play?” Max suggested. Hayley nodded to Hope encouragingly. Hope was not keen on the idea of missing out on whatever conversation might be happening, but she agreed. She led Penelope up to her room.

She hadn't really been around other children much. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she ask what the heck Penelope and her parents were doing here? Would Penelope even know.

Penelope wandered around her room for a moment, seemingly taking inventory of everything in it. “So...the things you don't decide to bring with you, I think I should get first pick.”

Hope looked at her in confusion. “What? Bring with me where?”

Penelope shot her a look like she must be an idiot. “To our house, obviously.”

“To...to like visit?” Hope asked, perplexed. She didn't even know this girl. Her mother barely seemed to know the Park family in general. Why would they go to their house?

“You really don't know?” Penelope asked, surprised. “Your mom hasn't told you?”

Hope's heart accelerated, the light by her bed flickered.

“You're coming to _live_ with us. That's what my dad said, anyway. He said we were coming to take you back to our home, because yours isn't safe.”

“But where are you going to take us?”

Penelope shook her head, clearly annoyed by the conversation. “No. Just you. Your mom is just sending you.”

That's when Hope lost it. The bulb in the lamp by her bed shattered, and the room seemed to shake. Before she could get to her bedroom door, her mother was already there.

“You're sending me away!” Hope screamed. “You can't. I won't let you. Dad won't let you.”

“It...it was his idea. Hope, please listen, deep breaths, okay?”

“No! You weren't even going to tell me! You were just going to let them take me!!”

“I wasn't sure yet! I just wanted to meet with them first, before we settled on anything. But your dad trusts the Park family, and they only want to keep you safe.”

“Safe from what?”

Max spoke up, “Hope, there are people in this world that will try to hurt you, just to hurt your family. Bad people. You will still be in contact with your mother, but we all decided it will be best if she stays here, to monitor New Orleans. We want to ensure that people still believe you're here for as long as possible.”

Tears poured down Hope's cheeks, and she shook her head, “I can fight them. I can fight any bad guy. I don't want to leave.”

“Well...” Max paused, “How about just a few weeks? Can you give us a little bit of time to show you that we're just trying to keep you safe? And you can call your parents anytime. And I know your aunt has that astral projection spell. I bet you could learn it in no time, and stay in touch.”

“Our home is secure.” Josiah said, more to Hayley. “Literally drowning in protection spells. Our coven doesn't do dealings with the Mikaelsons without taking precautions. We've kept our location secret for generations now.”

“Klaus did mention you're rather difficult to track down.”

“And with Penelope next in line to lead, we can't take any chances. Rest assured, Hope will have every level of protection that we give our own daughter.”

“Trust me, it's a lot.” Penelope muttered. She looked to Hope, and her expression softened. “But I bet we can be friends. I don't...really have any friends. I've always wanted someone else to play with.”

This, more than anything, caught Hope's interest. Penelope was just as lonely as she was—only maybe a tad more bratty—she knew what Hope was going through.

Hope sucked in a breath, and looked at her mother, “You'll call me? You'll have aunt Freya help you astral project to me? You'll make dad call me too?”

“Of course.”

“Okay.” she said slowly. “I'll do it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still a bit more backstory in this one, as Hope tries to figure out who the Park family really is, and what their coven is all about. Their close ties with her family should have set her at ease, but for some reason it made her more nervous than ever.

It was quite an ordeal getting to their heavily guarded mansion, practically in the middle of nowhere. At first, it was impossible to see until Max murmured a quick spell, to allow their home to be visible to Hope.

“You guys live here?” she asked, amazed.

“Your father has treated our family...very nicely over generations. In exchange for a few small errands or favors here and there.”

“Like what?”

“Nothing a young girl should concern her self with.” He remarked. Hope nearly rolled her eyes. He had no idea the things she'd been exposed to in her seven years.

“Penelope, you can give Hope a tour of the house. Show her where her room is. Her things should arrive later today.”

“Okay, dad.” Penelope said brightly. She grabbed Hope by the hand and half-dragged her into the house. She was quite a different personality know, on her own turf. And she seemed genuinely excited to have Hope there.

\--

“So your room is right down the hall from my room. It's kind of plain right now, but your stuff should be here in no time. And if there's anything else you need, just let someone know and it'll be taken care of.”

“What...coven are you from, exactly?”

“Nightshade. I know, it's such a cliché.” Penelope always seemed years older than she appeared. Like, Hope, she must have been primarily exposed to other adults for most of her life. “But we've been around for hundreds of years.” and then she grinned, “And we can't tell anyone of them who you are, but the rest of the coven would be so jealous to know that we have _Hope Andrea Mikaelson_ living under our roof. I mean, it also puts a bigger target on us, but that's nothing new.”

Hope could tell Penelope was like her in a lot of ways. They'd both grown up too fast. This was not a normal conversation for two kids to have.

“Why is there a target on you?”

“Aaaand, that's enough of the tour.” Max interrupted, and shot Penelope a look. She huffed, clearly unbothered.

“But I want to know-”

“Perhaps later, Miss Mikealson. Besides, your belongings have arrived. I thought you might want some help getting your room straightened up, and then we can all get some dinner.”

Hope frowned, but followed him down the hall to her room. Sure enough, boxes were piled in front of the canopy bed, waiting to be sorted through. “I don't need any help.” Hope assured him. “We actually used to move a lot when I was younger, so I'm pretty good at packing..unpacking...packing again.”

He smiled, “That's probably the saddest thing I've ever heard someone say. But still, let me help, and I'll answer...three questions?”

“Why not more?”

“Not many people know about us, Hope. And we intend to keep it that way. I trust you, truly. But not even your father knows all of our secrets. And...probably most of the things in this house are paid for with his money.” He opened up the box, and tossed one of her bears to her, “Some of our life, not even Penelope is supposed to know. But she has a tendency for getting into things, no matter what we do. She's like a super-spy, that one.”

That made Hope laugh. “Okay. So I can ask three questions?”

“Go for it.”

She thought about it for a moment, and decided to start with something easy. “How do you know my dad?”

“My father introduced us when it was my time to learn how to lead. He knew my grandmother before then, my great grandmother...every leader of our coven has crossed paths with Niklaus and Elijah.”

“Why does he trust you so much?”

“Because we don't ask questions.” Max said simply. “We do what is needed.”

Hope stopped for a moment, holding a pile of her t-shirts. “Even bad things?”

“Who decides what's good and bad?” Max replied, “Where do we draw the line?”

Hope didn't know how to answer that. She'd read some of her father's journals...when no one was around. She'd read some awful things. But he was a good person, right? To her, he was.

“Why does Penelope need to be protect-.”

“Hey, you've had your three questions!” he reminded her, but not in an annoyed way. “Now do I get to ask some questions?”

“Just two.”

“But you got three.”

“You never said I even had to answer questions in the first place. This is a whole different deal.”

He laughed, clearly impressed. “You and Penny definitely going to be a whole new challenge. Fine. Question one. Hope, what is your favorite color?”

“Blue, but like...ocean blue. Not sky blue, or anything like that.”

“What's your favorite food?”

Hope grinned, because that was easy. “Beignets.”

“Now that is going to be a challenge. But we'll get you your beignets, for sure =.”

“Why are you being so nice to me? You don't even know me.”

“As I said, we are forever loyal to the Mikaelsons, and that includes you. You are the guest of honor here.” Hope's mother had done her best to raise Hope in a modest existence. But...all this special treatment, and attention...it was appealing. And as her father had told her, she was a Mikaelson. A princess. Maybe she deserved more than she thought.

* * *

After dinner, and the girls were sound asleep in bed, Max joined Josiah in the living room for a drink. There was some tension. Josiah did not necessarily enjoy the thought of inviting a danger magnet into their home. But Max made a solid argument.

“Now that the Bennetts have all but disappeared, we are the most powerful line of witches in this world, darling.” he insisted, “and being chosen as caretakers for the most powerful living being in thie world? Anything we want, will be ours. No one can stand against us.”

“The Mikaelson siblings are splintered, scattered. How do you expect them to have any real pull anymore?”

“They'll figure it out. They always do. And they will reward us for our service.” Max assured him, he kissed Josiah lightly on the forehead. “you worry too much, my love.”

“It doesn't feel safe.”

“We have evaded enemies thus far, and we will continue to do so. Penelope's birth mother's family has been cast out. They have no real claim to lead this coven. They won't come near her.”

Josiah tossed the glass of bourbon on the floor, shattering it. “But you _told_ them they would be rewarded, for Gwen's decision to be a surrogate. You told them they would be placed on a pedestal.”

“Yes. And then she died during childbirth. And then they tried to take our child, _our child,_ away from us. Just to ensure we held up our end of the deal. So yes, the deal is off. Gwen was better than the rest of them will ever be, but she's gone. Penelope is a Park, and she is my blood. The laws clearly dictate that she will rule. They can try to present as many cousins and distant relatives as they want, but Park blood _always_ rules.” Max said fiercely. They had kidnapped his child, right out of the hospital, in order to send her away, never knowing she was to be practically royalty, so that they could offer up some cousin or something in her place. It simply would not stand.

“Are we doing this for the right reasons, Max?” Josiah said softly. “Hope is a child, not a tool to maintain our power. We promised her safety.”

“She will have all of the safety in the world. She will want for nothing. And if a time comes when our family is in danger, she will be firmly on our side.”

“If she wants to be. It is her choice. She has no reason to be involved in our stupid power struggles.” Josiah patiently reminded him.

Max sighed, “Yes of course, Josiah. You have my word that she will be safe from all of that for as long as she can be. I want her to have a normal life. I want that for Penelope, more than anything. But it may never happen if we don't deal with the growing tensions within our circle.”

Josiah nodded, resigned. Max kissed him lightly on the lips. “no one will ever harm this family, no one will ever harm our little tribrid either. I promise you that.”

Josiah believed him, honestly he did. But he knew being married to a Park was no picnic. Power-hungry by nature, they would destroy nearly anything in their path to get their way. So Josiah decided long ago that he would never stand in the way so long as he knew Maxwell might enjoy power a bit more than his own husband.


	3. Chapter 3

A few years began to pass, and Hope and Penelope developed a bond instantly. The Parks were powerful witches, and so was Hope. They were getting pretty good at creating their own spells, and getting into way too much trouble.

They were rarely permitted to leave the grounds. Hope was able to astral project to her family, and her mother came to visit a few times a year. She tried once to astral project to her father but it ended...badly.

The visions of him, surrounded by dead bodies, covered in blood, still haunted her dreams. She convinced herself that that was not her father. That was not the man she knew. She hadn't tried reach out since then. He hadn't tried either, aside from a birthday card every year. She was ten when that incident occurred. She'd immediately stopped the spell and ran crying to Penelope's room. Josiah and Max heard the commotion and were quick to follow.

They didn't quite understand why she was so distraught. Over the past couple of years, she'd learned that they were fairly indifferent to bloodshed and violence. The Parks, while wonderful guardians to her, served their own interests. The Nightshade coven was a dark coven...and it paid off. So why change?

Still, she was properly comforted and promptly given hot cocoa and full attention the rest of the evening.

The next week, she was walking past Max's study (when she was supposed to be working on her assignments—she and Penelope were home-schooled, naturally) and the door was cracked. She stopped short when she heard her father's voice.

“What the bloody hell-.”

“Think of it like reverse astral projection.”

“I don't have time for this Maxwell.” Klaus growled. Hope peered through the crack in the door. His back was slightly turned to her, but her father was there indeed, though not fully opaque.

“You've been leaving a trail of bodies all over Europe.” Max said sharply. “You know we don't care about such things, normally. But your daughter-.”

“She shouldn't have been able to see that in the first place. What kind of guardian are you? Allowing her to perform such spells on her own...”

“She's ten years old, for god's sake, Niklaus.” Max snapped, “She is the most powerful witch of this generation, and I say that knowing damn well how powerful Penny is.”

“All the more reason to keep her reigned in. If the wrong person were to find out who she is, and where she is-”

“Don't try to turn this around!” Josiah was in the room too, out of view. “You were caught. You're ashamed. That's fine. But don't act like it's a _safety concern_ when you barely send your child more than a birthday card and can't understand why she would seek you out. Maybe control yourself from now on.”

“Did you drag my consciousness here for anything important or just to scold me, Park?”

“No, we're done here.” With a wave of Max's hand, Klaus's form vanished. Hope didn't try to reach out to her father anymore for several more years.

She didn't bring it up to anyone, not even her mother. She would certainly make an _issue_ of it.

Anyway, five years passed by. Hope was now a fifteen year old girl, who'd barely been outside the safety of the Park family compound. So today, her birthday, was especially exciting. Her mother was coming to visit, and take her for a trip a trip to New Orleans. And for once, Penelope was coming along.

Penelope was shoving clothes into a third suitcase on her bed when Hope walked in to check on her.

“It's just two weeks.” Hope reminded her.

“Gotta be prepared.” Penelope said, and spelled the zipper shut on the suitcase. It still looked like it might burst open. “Besides, my wardrobe is barely seen by anyone other than my family. These clothes deserve _attention_ , Mikaelson.”

“I still can't believe your parents are letting you go.”

“Yeah well, if I'm supposed to run the coven some day, I need some real world experience.” and then she rolled her eyes, “Properly chaperoned real world experience, anyway.”

Hope grinned, “I'm sure we can find a way around that.”

“Oh. Always.” Penelope winked.

When Hayley arrived, Hope ran to hug her. It had been way too long, and she had too many questions and too much to talk about.

Max and Josiah hovered while they packed everything into the car. “I've trusted you 7 years with my daughter, you can trust me for two weeks with yours.” Hayley reminded them patiently. Then she nodded to two stoic guards standing nearby. “Besides, obviously we'll be well-looked after.”

“It isn't that we don't trust _you.”_ Max said, with a sidelong glance at Penelope. “I know how kids are.”

“We'll be fine, dad.” Penelope sighed. “And I doubt there's anything Hope and I can't handle on our own.”

Reluctantly, the Parks said their goodbyes, and Hope and Penelope were on their way to New Orleans. By the time they arrived, it was pretty late, and they sleepily drug their luggage to the Mikaelson compound—mostly empty these days. Hope still looked around in the darkness, trying to take in the familiar sights and remember every detail, because she had no idea when she might even be back. Down the street, a boy about her age was leaning against a lamp post, his face was illuminated in the glow, and he was looking in her direction. She flashed him an awkward smile...she was never good at human interaction thanks to her sheltered existence. He smiled back, winked, and walked away into the darkness. Penelope nudged her, “Don't even think about it.”

“I have two whole weeks here. Might as well make new friends.” Hope reasoned.

As we all know, first crushes have a tendency to end poorly. Especially in Hope Mikaelson's case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since we all know how season 5 of the originals painfully ended, I'm gonna skip over a bunch of that, for the sake of my sanity and the goal of getting the girls to Salvatore. In the beginning of the next chapter, I'll "re-cap" what went down and what was happened differently from canon, if that makes any sense. It's just not something I want to spend a bunch of time on, my feelings are still hurt lol.


	4. Chapter 4

Hope had wanted to kill him. Really she had. She wanted Roman to pay for the things he'd set in motion. Penelope certainly had ideas.

She should have been smarter. But of course, she'd lived her whole life in isolation, and then one day a boy smiled at her, and it was all downhill from there. He just happened to belong to a crazy vampire cult that wanted to destroy hybrids. Destroy her.

But standing there, after she let him go, she could only think of how she could piece her life back together after everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Her parents...gone. Her mother had been ruthlessly killed by some vampire purists. Hope made one last-ditch effort to get her family back together, to make sure her mother's death was not in vain. She took the Hollow back, and it nearly killed her. It definitely would have, and maybe it should've? After all, wasn't she a mistake from the get-go?

She'd thought she was strong enough. She was sure she was strong enough. Wrong again.

Even after punishing all of those vampires who'd supported the insane ideology that resulted in her mother's death, she was still brimming with dark magic, and no outlet. It was crushing her, and she tried so hard not to let anyone know.

But of course he knew. Even if she and her father had not been the closest over the years, he knew. He took the Hollow back...and ended it. She didn't even have a chance to tell him goodbye.

Things felt more fractured than ever now. They kept saying it wasn't her fault, that it was his decision, or whatever...but it didn't change the fact that she'd made all the wrong choices that led up to this. It didn't help the fact that the Hollow might not have even come back if she'd just...never been born.

They'd been in New Orleans for a month, and it felt like a year. Roman left the compound, after Hope released his bonds. Penelope stood by, with a slightly disgruntled look on her face.

“I still think he got off too easy.” Penelope said.

“He was a pawn.” Hope said quietly, “In a really awful game.”

“Are you going to stay here?” Penelope asked. “You know you're always welcome at home...”

Hope was mad at the Park family—not Penelope, of course—for other reasons. Hope's father had employed _their_ help to trick Hope during her first transformation. He'd had them find a way to take the Hollow out of her and put it into himself. She wasn't even given a chance to stop him.

“What about your family?” Penelope asked.

“They let him do it. We're not speaking.” Hope said coldly. No, she wasn't sure she could face them just yet. Maybe she was being irrational but...hey, who could blame her? She was a Mikaelson, through and through, so being stubborn and irrational was part of the deal.

“Well, you have to go somewhere.”

“No I don't.”

Penelope put her hand on Hope's shoulder, “You can't stay here alone. That won't be good for you.”

She was probably right. Hope had thought about staying at the compound now, because it was the only place she felt close to her family...staying there, clinging to the past, it already sounded pathetic.

* * *

So she went back to the Park manor, and days passed, and weeks, and months. Penelope tried to engage her, but to no avail, Penelope's parents were still partly-guilty in Hope's eyes, so they stayed out of her path. She ignored texts and phone calls from her aunts and uncles. She was pretty resigned to wasting away in solitude, honestly.

Until Penelope finally got sick of it. “We're not doing this anymore.” she announced, barging into Hope's room one morning. She flicked her wrist, and the curtains on the window flew open, allowing bright white sunlight to pour into the room. Hope groaned and threw the covers over her head. Penelope snapped her fingers and the blankets were flown from the bed.

“Hey, what the hell?” Hope asked indignantly.

“I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you moping around all day. I'm tired of having no one to hang out with _again._ Because I'm not going back to that, Hope Mikaelson. This isn't _Frozen_ , I'm not gonna sit outside your door and ask you to build a snowman-”

“You hate snow.”

“Not the point! I know you're sad. You have every right to be. But do you really think your parents would want you sitting in your room all day every day, throwing yourself a pity party while the world goes on? I doubt it. And frankly, if I don't do something about it, I'm afraid your dad's ghost is gonna start freaking haunting me. And yeah, I could kick his ass, but you're my friend, and that would be rude.”

“How would you kick a ghost's ass...?”

Penelope ignored the question, and soldiered on. “Anyway. I have a solution to all of our problems. You're gonna love it.” she threw a brochure onto the bed.

“Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted.” Hope read. She raised her eyebrows. “We're going to school? That's your grand reveal?”

“It's a school for supernaturals. Like us. Listen, I've talked to my parents extensively about it.”

“And we still don't like it.” Hope heard from somewhere down the hall.

“But ultimately it's _my..._ sorry, _our_ choice.” Penelope said loudly. “And I think this is a good thing.”

“Well I'm sure you'll have lots of fun and make lots of friends at boarding school. Be sure and write.”

“You're going with me.” Penelope said firmly. “It's been decided. You can't make me do this alone. I need a tribrid roommate to keep the mean girls away.”

Hope buried her face in a pillow and muttered “I'm pretty sure you _are_ the mean girl.”

“I'll never get the chance to find that out for sure if I don't go. And that means you're going too.”

Hope's closet doors flew open, and she was assaulted by her own clothes flying across the room. She scowled at Penelope.

“Get packed.” Penelope said with a smirk. “We're leaving in two days.”

* * *

Hope dragged the last of her bags out of the car. Considering that they'd arrived in an armored SUV, flanked by two other armored SUVs...they'd drawn quite a bit of attention already.

“Literally everyone is staring.” Hope muttered to Penelope as they waited for the headmaster, and headmistress, to greet them.

“Yeah, we're pretty hot.”

“Somehow I don't think that's the reason.” Hope hissed at her.

Max cleared his throat, signaling that perhaps they should stop their bickering, and he and Josiah stepped forward to greet the four people walking down the front steps towards them.

“Max, Josiah.” The man said, “I'm Dr. Saltzman, headmaster. This is Caroline Forbes, our headmistress. You're lucky to have caught her while she's in town for a bit. And these are our daughters, Josie and Lizzie Saltzman.”

The shorter brunette girl gave them a small smile, while the blonde looked completely disinterested.

“We're really happy you've chosen to send your daughter to Salvatore.” Miss Forbes said brightly, “We've heard great things about the Parks. I'm sure she'll do great.” And she paused, and smiled at Hope, and Hope saw a sadness in her eyes that was surprising.

“I really think you'll be happy here too, Hope. If there's anything you need, let us know.” Hope felt an odd mix of appreciation and...annoyance. She didn't want to be handled with kid gloves.

“We're putting a lot of trust in you here, Alaric.” Max reminded Dr. Saltzman, and Hope let her attention drift away from Caroline. “We've barely let these two out of our sight.”

“Dad.” Penelope grumbled, shooting a glance at the Saltzman girls. “Really not necessary.”

“If anything happens to either of them-”

“You can stop now.”

“I'll burn this school to the ground myself.”

Penelope let out a loud sigh and Josiah snapped “Max!” under his breath. Dr. Saltzman didn't seem too bothered by the threatening display.

“I promise you they will be well-protected here.” Dr. Saltzman assured them. “Caroline and I would be more than happy to discuss security measures with you, though. Lizzie? Josie? Why don't you show Hope and Penelope around.”

Okay. So the tall blonde one, Lizzie, definitely looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. But Josie seemed nice, at least. Once they were out of earshot, Lizzie turned to them.

“Alright so I read your file because dad has been a ball of stress for like a week now.” She rolled her eyes. “I get that you're like...from a powerful witch family and _you're..._ a tribrid? Is that a scientific term?”

“Well, I don't like to-.”

“Just don't think you're gonna come here and run this place just because of your super rich families.”

“Lizzie, Hope's parents just _died._ ” Josie nudged her sister's ribs. “Come on.”

“I'm just getting it all out in the open.”

“Totally cool.” Penelope said smoothly. Hope knew that look in her eyes all too well. “We're definitely not looking to step on anyone's toes here. And I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, right? After all, you've been here your whole life. And we're just too recluses coming in with just a couple of years left of school. Why would we be any threat to the headmaster's daughter?”

Lizzie narrowed her eyes, suspiciously, and Penelope went on, “And me? If you take away the power and the impressive lineage, what could I possibly have to compete?” she pretended to think about it, “I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?”

Lizzie glared at her for a moment. “Jo, I'm a little under the weather. You can handle the tour yourself, yeah?” and with that she stormed off.

“Well, I already love it here.” Penelope said, “I've decided to take a self-guided tour? Clear my head, make some friends, build an empire. I've got a busy semester ahead.”

Left in the wake of whatever _that_ was, Josie and Hope stared at each other awkwardly.

“Sorry about her-.” they said at the same time, and then stopped and Hope started laughing.

“Honestly, really, um...she's actually really sweet.” Hope said.

“Lizzie doesn't like to be challenged.”

“Noted.” Hope, unlike Penelope, was not exactly in a hurry to start making enemies. “Well, can I still get a tour? And we'll have to find Penelope, I guess. This place is massive.”

Josie grinned, and looked relaxed for the first time since they'd met. “Yeah, let's do that.” Something in her smile stirred up feelings that Hope thought she was long past capable of. She pushed all of that right back down. There was no way she was going to develop another crush, and suffer another heartbreak.


	5. Chapter 5

Penelope did not typically think of herself as a mean girl, or an idiot. But at the moment she definitely felt like both as she stormed away from Hope and Josie.

She should go back, apologize, and try not to look like a complete jerk in front of the first pretty girl she'd met. And holy hell, Josie was...well, gorgeous. Stupid pouty lips.

_Just go back. Apologize. Offer to apologize to her uptight sister,_ she told herself. But she kept on walking. She saw her parents, in an intense debate with Dr. Saltzman and Miss Forbes. No way she was going back over there. So she headed around the corner to a side door and slipped inside the school.

The students inside seemed to pay her no mind. This looked like a wing of classrooms, so she started walking and tried to make a mental map as she went. Who needs a tour anyway?

She wanted this to be good for her, and Hope. She wanted to spread her wings, make friends, all that crap. But it occurred to her that...she really didn't know how to make friends? There were sometimes coven meetings, but other kids were just nice to her because they had to be. She was used to getting her way and never being challenged. That's why little miss Lizzie Saltzman managed to get under her skin so quickly.

“Just be _nice_.” she muttered to herself. She'd clearly blown it with a cute girl already. She didn't want to make life harder for Hope just by association. They were already weird. The Park family shut-in and the tribrid. She had no idea why she thought this was a good idea.

“There you are!” she was snapped from her thoughts at the sound of her father, Josiah, at the other end of the hall.

“You're gonna have to get used to not knowing my every move.” she joked, making her way towards him. She loved her parents, she really did. And their coven had not been easy on Maxwell Park coming out as gay, refusing to marry a woman, and all of that. There were still some—like Penelope's maternal family—who did not accept him as a legitimate spouse. But they were insane, and thought killing Penelope was a great way to get their point across, and force Max to marry a woman and set things right.

One time she'd received a birthday card from an “aunt” on that side that turned out to be hexed. So that was fun.

“Tell that to the tracking device we put in your head.” He was joking, but Penelope almost wouldn't put it past them.

She hugged him. “I'm gonna miss you.” she whispered. “But don't tell anyone that.”

“Secret's safe with me.”

They walked back out to the front door, and Hope and Josie had made their way back so everyone could say their goodbyes. She managed a small, hopefully apologetic smile, at Josie, and she gave a little wave in return. It was something, at least.

There were lots of good-bye hugs and “Call me if you need anything at all.” was said at least 20 times, but finally, they were waving as Penelope's parents rolled out with their security detail. She blinked back a couple of tears and put on a confident mask.

“Thought they'd never leave.” she said finally, sighing with...mostly fake relief.

“Hope should have the basics down, and can get you caught up, Penelope.” She smiled politely, as though none of the drama that'd taken place earlier had even occurred. “Here are you room keys.”

Penelope waited until Josie's parents were out of earshot. “Sorry about...earlier.”

“I propose we start fresh.” Josie said, much to Penelope's relief. “Do you wanna see your room? We already had your stuff taken up. And you'll get your class schedules sometime today.”

Penelope and Hope nodded gratefully and she whisked them away to the girls' wing of the school.

Penelope noticed the way Hope was looking at Josie and felt a small surge of jealousy. Normally, she would never try to come between her best friend and the person she liked but...well, she was already starting off at a disadvantage. She skipped ahead of Hope, and planted herself beside Josie as they walked up the stairs. “So, Josie, your parents built this school? I'm sure you know all the good hiding places for... _extracurricular activities._ ”

Josie flushed, “Oh! I uhhh...”

“Oh sorry, I just kind of assumed you had a significant other in your life.” Penelope grinned. She stole a glance at Hope, who was throwing her a death glare.

“No, haha, ummmm my love life is kind of lacking-.” before she could finish the sentence, she stumbled at the top step and started to fall forward. Penelope managed to grab hold of her and catch her before she could have a painful meeting with the floor.

“Well, maybe you're falling for someone already.” she smirked, helping Josie steady herself. Josie blushed yet again, which delighted Penelope. Behind her, Hope's mouth dropped open in shock. She rolled her eyes at Penelope.

Josie managed to show them to their room without any more trouble, and Hope made a big deal about how they should really start unpacking and they didn't want to _inconvenience_ Josie any further. She all but shoved her out the door and locked it behind her.

“What was all that?” she demanded.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Penelope feigned innocence.

“You can't seriously be setting your sights on Josie Saltzman. Her sister already hates you. Maybe let someone else have a shot.”

“Well, you spent half the afternoon with her. How long am I supposed to wait, Hope?”

“You were practically throwing yourself at her.” Hope retorted, “I'm trying to play the long game here.”

Penelope pretended to consider it. And she did, kind of. She really probably should back off and find someone else to focus on. And Hope did have the whole orphan card to play...

But she also wasn't the type of witch to back down from a little friendly competition. Or not so friendly.

“By all means, hang out in the friendzone for the next five years. I think I'd rather take the initiative though.” she unzipped her suitcase and started pulling clothes out and placing them in the dresser nearbhy. “and I know your family is used to having Park witches at your beck and call, but that doesn't extend to helping you sort out your love life.”

“That's not fair and you know it.”

“It's perfectly fair.” Penelope argued. She sighed, and walked over to Hope's side of the room. It wouldn't do for them to get in a fight and probably blow up the school in the process. “Okay, how about a nice, innocent little competition?”

“What kind of competition?” Hope asked warily, crossing her arms.

“Josie Saltzman is fair game until one of us...gets the first kiss. Deal?” She held out her hand, and smirked. “Come on, that's more than reasonable.”

Hope chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “And the other person forfeits?”

“Yup.”

Hope grasped Penelope's hand and they shook on it. “Okay, but no more miss nice witch.”

“I expect nothing less.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes in life, you need a little distraction. Hope Mikaelson had definitely earned her right to a distraction. Currently, that distraction was eating breakfast in the dining hall and talking and laughing with some vampire. Hope was pretty sure they were only friends though. She was also pretty sure the guy had his sights set on Lizzie, as he kept glancing to see if she noticed when he made a joke.

She started over slowly with her tray. It was Saturday morning, Penelope would be sleeping until noon at least, which gave her plenty of time to get ahead in this stupid game.

“H-hey!” she said, smiling. Josie looked at her, and her face lit up with a grin.

“Hope! Are you settling in okay? MG, this is Hope, one of the new students I told you about. Hope, this is MG.”

Lizzie, who was also sitting at the table, glanced up from her laptop, “The evil one isn't joining us this morning?”

“If you mean Penelope, uhhh no. She needs at least 12 full hours of sleep on the weekend.”

“Good, you're tolerable at least.”

“Thanks...?”

Josie shot her sister a glare. “Seriously?”

“What?” Lizzie asked, incredulous, “I said she's tolerable. MG, let's go.”

She picked up her stuff and started away from the able. MG glanced quickly between Josie and Lizzie. Josie rolled her eyes and motioned for him to follow Lizzie.

Hope decided to try a diplomatic approach as she took a seat near Josie. “Don't worry.” she told her, “I get it. Penelope is super headstrong. And she's practically like my sister so...I think you and I have a bit in common.”

“So you're always playing the mediator?”

“And I never know what she's gonna say next.”

“And everyone automatically expects you to do damage control.”

Hope laughed, and it felt good, it felt _normal_ to commiserate with someone about something so trivial.

She stayed and talked with Josie for a while, about everything. She learned that Josie was a siphon, and just had to see that for herself.

“When I was younger, I used to not be able to control it.” Josie explained taking Hope's hand, “But now I have a decent handle on it, and I can siphon you without you even knowing it.” she winked and Hope looked down to realize the glow that had formed between their hands.

“That's...whoa. Remind me to stay on your good side.”

“You should know that you're kind of a magical super-battery. That's a _lot_ of power.” Josie said, releasing her hand. “I think I just siphoned enough to a fairly decent-sized spell and I didn't even scratch the surface.”

Hope blushed. She didn't like to talk about her magical heritage. She was already pretty abnormal. “Yeah, firstborn witches on my dad's side get a crazy amount of power. And then there's the werewolf thing...and the vampire thing...”

“Oh gosh, sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel weird.” Josie said quickly. “If it helps, I was transported into my adoptive mom's womb by my bio mom's weird coven when she was killed on her wedding day. So...I know about being a weird miracle baby. The whole siphon thing is just icing on the cake.”

“Well, that's a relief.” Hope brightened considerably. “I guess we'd better be friends by default, huh?”

“I guess so.” Josie replied with a satisfied smile.

* * *

Penelope jolted awake and checked the time. “Oh, that bitch.” she whispered and groaned. She did like to sleep in, that was very true, but Hope normally did not allow her to actually do so.

“She's up to something, I just know it.” Penelope said to herself while furiously getting dressed. They'd both waited patiently for an entire week of classes but Penelope that that maybe the early morning hours of Saturday could be used for resting instead of plotting. She ran a brush through her hair and started out the door, only to be hit with an invisible barrier.

“What the-”

She noticed a post-it note on the door frame. _“Lunch at 12:30? -Hope :)”_

So the spell was up at least until then. She had an hour left to hurl counter-spells at it and various expletives, and a chair, before she finally gave up and sat down to wait.

The door burst open at 12:30 on the dot, and Hope sauntered in, looking extremely pleased with herself. “Having a good morning?” Penelope asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Yeah, can't really complain.” Hope surveyed the room, and the broken chair. "I get the feeling things haven't been quite as good for you."

“Okay, so maybe I underestimated how _underhanded_ you can be. Which is my bad, all things considered. But just know, I'm already planning a retaliation.” She had no plan, it was a bluff. But Hope didn't need to know that. 

“Oh, I'm real scared.” Hope smirked.

Penelope had to feel an inkling of pride. Hope had just been a shy little kid when they first met. Now she was practically an expert schemer. If only she wasn't using her newfound skills in the most annoying way possible.

“Time out.” Penelope said with a laugh, and in an instant all was forgotten for the time being. “Is that lunch invite still good?”

“Obviously. No distractions, Saltzman or otherwise?”

“I'll do my best.”


End file.
